Life As Canvas

It’s been a lazy few days here on Koh Tao, one of Thailand’s smaller popular islands. Koh Tao is known for scuba diving which becomes very obvious as you step off the boat and are accosted by smiling, sign-holding men who come up between the guidebook you’re reading and your face, practically screaming “You want scuba tour? You need bungalow??” We swatted at them. Like flies they scattered, then came back. The trick, I find, is to either look them in the eye and, with a cold face, say “no” to everything they say, even if it’s “Where you from?” Or smile and yell “Go away, go away, go awayyyyy!”

After the initial frenzy was over and the crowd had dissipated, we made our way (again, clumsily, stumbling, with our big swaying backpacks) over sandy beach upon sandy beach to a little cluster of bungalows on stilts.

The beach below our bungalows

For a few days we did pretty much nothing. We went to the beach, swam, got a massage, watched fire dancers on the beach and sipped lots of fruit shakes. We needed to soak up as much beach as possible before heading back to the crazy city life in Bangkok.

Thai Fire Dancer

Yesterday, though, we went on a snorkel tour just along the outside of the island. The first stop we made was at a place called “Shark Point.” This is because it is teeming with sharks. Normally, the idea would make me nervous but our guides told us they don’t bite and that sometimes you could see them swiming around in the shallows. With that, I was the first one off the boat, speeding through the water with my fins and snorkel, scanning the bottom for sharks and then, a familiar flick of a tail… a shark! It was only about 3 feet long but I got excited and looked back to the boat to see if anyone else was nearby. They were all still on the boat. So I slowly paddled on, letting the warm water lap up against my skin, admiring the little fluorescent blue fishies below when I saw something big and grey. With a start I realized it was another shark. This one was about 6 feet long, though, and fat. I blinked in awe. Then it turned a little too suddenly and started to move in my direction. Panicked, I turned and swam, slowly, slowly away. No need to be nervous, I reminded myself, but when you see a big shark for the first time, warning lights go off in the brain.

After checking out a few more friendly sharkes, we stopped to snorkel around choral and see some other colorful fish. I felt like I had plunged right into another post card. The deep blue water, the yellow fish, blue anemones, and oddly shaped hills of choral, all so clearly visible in the water, which is incredibly warm and calm, here.

Low Tide on Koh Tao

Though we didn’t want to pay for the course, it seems like the perfect spot to get your scuba certificaton and maybe one day I’ll come back to do so.

Today we’re off to Bangkok again! That giant hub crawling with people, smells, loudness. It’s overwhelming sometimes but I like it in short doses. From Bangkok I’ll be making my final move – home – and on the way I get to stop off in Seoul, Korea for 6 hours. Stories about the Seoul airport coming up!

After milling about the jungle for a bit among the leeches and the monkeys, Erika and I decided that a few days away from the beach merited one thing: to get back to the beach. Cousin Joe advised us on an itinerary and Koh Pha Gnan, (pronounced koh pa nyan and known for crazy parties) was next on the list.

Jungle Huts

Another Anphibian Friend

Getting there, as with getting anywhere in Thailand, was a little tricky. As usual, we had the choice of trying to find the connections ourselves or just giving in to the tourist circuit and booking the whole thing through. We were tired, so we booked it, which turned out to be a bad idea, as we were dropped off at the same crazy tour agency who made us wait 4 extra hours last time and this time they were claiming we’d have to stay in town an extra night. Lies, all lies! We stormed out of there, found our way to the dock, and bought a ticket on the night boat, easy as pie.

The Night Boat

A long night passed as we rocked in our big wooden boat on thin pads on the floor, trying to sleep through the heat and mosquitoes. By 7am we docked at yet another beautiful island with glowing teal waves and white sand. Unfortunately for me, though many seem to like it, it’s also infested with tourists looking to drink, smoke, and drink. The shiny clean beach atmosphere sags under their presence. An excerpt from my journal describes it best:

My mouth fills with sweet coconut cream and crushed ice and I wonder what these daily banana-coconut shakes that so happily replaced chai could be doing for my cholesterol. Oh well. I’m only here for a few more weeks so I relish the silky white stuff and decide not to think about the fat.

I decided not to go out last night and instead slept soundly, waking around 6:30am to the hurried sounds of heavy rain. It’s 9:00am now and I’m sitting outside our hotel waiting for Erika to get back from the tattoo shop where she’s saying goodbye to her new Thai friends. The road is drying out slowly in the sun and the hotel guy plays with his baby boy, smiling and naked from the waist-down, little bells ringing on golden anklets about his pudgy baby feet. It’s already hot outside and the air is heavy, pressing down on my sticky skin, saturating my clothes, which cling to my sweaty body.

The heat is the one constant that ties this island town together. Everything else is constantly changing shape. Stores open and close at strange hours, some seem to disappear altogether. It’s almost impossible to give someone directions to a place as the little shop next to it is sure to exist at night but may morph into a wall during the day. And the periodic rains bring out the eaves, the reflections, and the smells. Crowds of “farang” (foreigners) pulse through the streets in clots and then, a day later, it’s quiet again. But never completely quiet as each restaurant catering to the Western masses plays pop music and episodes of Friends on loop during the day and a string of movies at night.

These islands have been turned into a playground for the drunk and painted over with thick, chipping Americana. Little pieces of the original Thailand show through the cracks but for the most part, it’s missing. Places like this are enjoyable for the beautiful beach and the existence of peanut butter and crepes but also make me mourn the loss of something older that has retreated into the deep side streets and unknown towns. Why travel thousands of miles only to feel like you’re home, or worse, in the thick of Saturday night in a college town? The beach alone is nice, but less lustrous when full of hung over honkeys.

A Nice Beach, In Spite of it All

Erika had a good birthday on the island, nonetheless, spending it in the tattoo shop getting a bamboo tattoo. We went on a snorkel trip but found that they, too, were catering to the masses and passed around buckets of alcohol and pot. I just wanted to get in the water and see some fish but most of the snorkeling gear was broken.

Erika’s Birthday Ink

The Design She Chose

Koh Pha Gnan is a partiers’ paradise. But to everyone else, it’s just partiers running amok on a beautiful backdrop.

Today we’re back in Bangkok, busy as ever, and tomorrow it’s off to Cambodia to see if we can find some tradition.

I was alone in the blinding sun, squinting for having lost my sunglasses, my bare feet slipping along soft white sand, my naked belly and legs delighting in the breeze. Everything was brightness where the midday sun found the ... [Continue reading this entry]